Revenants
by Deep Sea Anchor
Summary: Leo and Aeris are pitted against each other in an epic battle to the death. Inspired by an exchange between Mr. Bogren and myself


**Revenants**

* * *

The moon rose slowly over a field off tall grass. It flowed as the wind that swept through it, brushing against each strand, turning the field into an ocean of waves.

Black storm clouds rested in the sky overhead, resting atop the dark mountain looming miles away, but no rain fell.

From either side of the waves of grass their came two figures, carrying weapons, one clad in deep red armor, the other in a loose white robe.

The one in armor carried a sword, strapped over her shoulder. Simple, long, curved, and sharp enough to cleanly pass through five men unhindered. Beneath the shadows covering her face, her eyes glowed an intense electric blue.

In the center of the field she stopped and looked up at her enemy.

He held a long staff, tipped with a curved blade measuring just under half the length of the sword she carried. When he stopped she saw that the weapon stood three inches taller than the one who carried it.

From beneath the reed hat covering his face the robed one grinned at her. Then he looked up. His eyes glowed to match hers, but they were green instead of blue.

As the wind whipped around them, they stood in silence, until the one with the green eyes asked a question, smiling underneath the eyes that mocked her.

"What is your purpose here?"

With one hand, the armored warrior reached over her shoulder and, in one fluid motion, whipped her sword from its wooden scabbard.

"I am a messenger."

The robed monks' grin widened at this. He lifted his hand and let his hat fall from his head, revealing grey fur underneath. "And what-", he asked, "- is your message?"

The red warrior frowned at him and looked at the ground, her sword held out to her side. She whispered to him, "… death", and lunged forwards in a vicious attack.

But the monk only laughed as he leapt over her, tearing away his robes in the air, and shattering the ground on impact, sending a shockwave through the grass.

Now clad in black samurai armor he turned and held his naginata before him. When he saw the blue of his enemies eyes touch his he smiled again. "Then this will be the game we play."

He lifted his weapon above his head and spun it, gathering momentum until he once again leapt into the air, now whirling in tornado of death towards the red warrior.

Kicking up a cloud of dust from the ground she leapt to the side, and the warrior in black buried his weapon into the dirt instead of her body.

She stood as he lifted his weapon from the earth and sniffed at him, "you should not play with me." She lifted her katana from her side and held it two-handed over her head, pointing it down at him. "This game is over…"

She hurled herself at the black monk again, this time aiming for the single hand that now held his weapon.

But from the distance that she had attacked from, the grey colored monk had seen it coming. Before she reached him he spun around her and, as she passed, slammed the wooden staff into her head, knocking off the helmet.

Beneath, the armor, the monk could now see that her hair was pink and tied tightly into a rough ponytail set high on the back of her head.

When she turned to face him, his smile returned to mock her once more. "You have evaded me once, but the game is far from over."

She touched the back of her head and snarled at him, lifting her sword for the third time. "We shall see."

In one hand she spun her sword with a flourish and crouched low to the ground. From here it was she who leapt into the air, sailing higher than her opponent had at any point up to now, screaming horribly as she plunged down towards him.

From the ground, the monk threw his weapon into the mountain that still stood ominously miles away.

Thunder cracked down on them.

While the warrior in red still fell from the sky towards him, the one in black closed his eyes. With his arms he made a circle in the air in front of himself before slamming his left foot at his side, shattering the ground, and placing his fists at his sides.

He eyes still closed, he breathed out heavily while he pressed his hands again each other at his stomach.

A crackling energy built up, raging between his hands as his focus increased and the space between his hands widened.

Moments before the screaming warriors' sword would have cleaved him in two, he opened his eyes, inhaled deeply through his nostrils lifting his chin, and slammed the raging ball on energy into the earth.

From the ground erupted a massive vortex of blue energy, sending a shockwave through the land and the air, tearing away at everything nearby and sending the red warrior flying back through the air screaming along with massive chunks of the earth below.

Regaining her composure, she grabbed one of the gigantic pieces of rock as it flew past her and launched herself back towards her opponent.

Before landing on one knee in a cloud of dust in front of the now weaponless grey monk she shouted at him, "You will have to do better than that!"

Adopting his stance in preparation for her attack he responded, "Apparently so." With his palm held open in front of him, he turned it flat and beckoned his blued eyed enemy forward tauntingly. "I believe it's your turn."

As the dust cleared it was now the red warrior who smiled menacingly at him. Standing perfectly still, her sword held in both hands pointing towards the thundering sky, she laughed. "You will regret that."

She engaged the grey monk, but rather than kill him, she sidestepped from her charge at the last possible moment, ramming the flat edge of her sword into the back his head, just as he had done to her before. "Run While You Still Can!"

Brought down to one knee, from the ground, the grey one grunted, "It is you - who will regret -" He rose and performed a wild spinning kick to the sword held by the warrior with blue eyes, sending it out of her hands hundreds of feet into the air.

His eminent death temporarily eluded, the green eyed monk ran for the mountain where his discarded naginata now lay, waiting for him.

But he was closely pursued by the furious pink demon that hunted him now so desperately. The instant he moved, she growled angrily, "Oh no you don't." She gave chase, knowing without a doubt what he sought, and sent a frenzied shout to her fleeing prey, "Your fate will not be unsealed!"

Her shout was met with defiance. "I beg to differ!"

As they each sprinted towards the mountain, they performed dozens of flying leaps, engaging in mid-air combat, rapidly shortening the distance between them and the side of the mountain where their goal rested.

At last, with one final leap, the grey monk landed next to his weapon and grasped it firmly… but so too did the warrior with the blue eyes. She had caught up to him, and now the two struggled for dominance over the weapon.

Neither gained any advantage, until an idea struck the warrior with the green eyes. An idea he was sure would seal both their fates.

With every ounce of his strength, he cast both the red warrior and his weapon over the mountain side. Then, sure he'd bought himself sufficient time; he braced his legs and once more blasted forth from the ground and into the air.

In the dark air he reached his hand out and snatched from the wind what he had been sure he would find there, the sword he had kicked from his enemies' hands. Claiming the sword now with both hands, he shouted his triumph.

But while he basked in the temporary light of his victory, the naginata he had sent over the mountain cut through the sky and impaled him through the chest, filling his lungs with blood.

As his body went limp in the air, he dropped the sword and fell tumbling to the ground.

He crashed against the unforgiving rock of the mountain and landed on top of the naginata, breaking it and leaving just the blade and the splintered shaft protruding from his chest.

With his right hand, he gripped what was left off the shaft and yanked the blade out of his chest, still holding it uselessly in his right hand.

As he lay there dying, he turned on his side to watch the red warrior climbed onto the rock shelf were he'd landed.

She walked slowly past him over to the spot where her sword now rested.

Just as slowly, she bent down and picked it delicately up off the ground and examined its smooth surface.

Then she spun the blade in her hands playfully while she walked over to the dying body of her prey. As she poised her sword loosely beside her she smirked and placed it backs in its scabbard.

She knelt down beside the green eyed monk and turned him from his side onto his back so she could look at him.

From a smaller sheath at her side, she withdrew a knife and held it loosely in her left hand, picking at bits of dirt on her armor. Finally, she smiled and, grabbing him by the front of his armor with her right hand, lifted the grey monk onto his knees and stared into his eyes. She lifted the knife away and asked him a simple question. "Any last words?"

Swaying weakly back and forth, the grey warrior couched violently, hacking blood. With his left hand he wiped away the blood from lips and chin. Then he spoke.

"I do - "

With the last of his strength he lunged from his kneeling position and plunged the blade of the broken naginata deep into the center of the blue eyed warrior's chest.

Her eyelids fluttered in disbelief as she looked down at the piece of metal sticking through her.

When she looked back into the green eyes of the grey monk, they were filled with both sadness and defeat.

Weakly, he lifted a hand placed it on her shoulder. "… thank you for the weapon."

With that he pushed her lightly over the edge of the shelf, sending her tumbling down the side of the mountain to the waiting grass below.

From above, the grey monk crawled to the edge on hands and knees and looked down over the edge at her broken body lying in the swaying grass, the pink of her fur marred with blood, eyes closed.

Poised over the edge he kneeled.

He reached to his right and grabbed the knife that she had dropped when he'd killed her.

Taking it with both hands he looked up into the sky as the first drops of rain began to fall. He looked back down at the body that lay resting there and said his last words. "I… am beaten…" and with that, drove the knife, point first, into his stomach, and allowed himself to fall silently from edge, joining his enemy in the wind swayed waves of green below.

So their bodies rested there, their hands almost touching in death, and the storm grew further.

* * *

As the gale blew all around two more figures approached drifting through the shadows like mist in dark robes.

They approached the bodies gravely.

The first figure spoke. "They have passed the first test."

The second figure responded. "The next step in their training can now begin."

Both figures looked at each other and nodded, taking a body and walking away in opposite directions into the night.

* * *

**A/N: This story was actually based of a wonderful interaction between mister Bogren and myself. It was an entirely spur of the moment epic battle we had over a chat one day and, afterwords, I thought it a good idea to suggest that one of us do a one-shot of it later. He thought it a good enough idea to say that he agreed and allowed me the privilege to proceed. So, knowing this, let it be known that half of the credit goes to him. If you like it, then thank him too.  
**

** Looking at it now, I think that I might make this into something more substantial than a one-shot. In fact, yes, I think that this will become a full length story.  
**

**So, see you all when I next give you something new, until then, enjoy.  
**


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